Live Alive: Shinji's Story
by gamer4
Summary: A new pilot has been found to assist the children of Tokyo-3 in the battle against the Angels. However, not long after arriving, it becomes clear that she's got secrets of her own... Part of the Live Alive mini-series!


Gamer4 in, and right off the bat, going into this, I'll admit: I'm a little nervous here. Why, you ask? I'll tell you, but first, the summation of what's going on here, for those who don't know: this is a short story in the mini-series I'm writing, _Live Alive. _All the stories on my profile bearing this name are part of the same mini-series, beginning with eight different stories from eight different fandoms, with loose connections between them making them a mini-series. However, they are also being written in such a way that, should you only want to read the stories individually, you can do that as well. Now, why am I nervous, you ask? Well, right from the start, I had the eight fandoms I'd be writing for picked out, as well as the stories pertaining to them, and I've been utilizing a random number generator to decide what order to write them in. And this time around, it came up with a fandom I have yet to even touch. I mean, yeah, I'd never written an Earthbound story at the time that I wrote _Ness's Story_, but I'd at least talked about it a great deal, and characters from said series played key parts in my main series, _Mario Mario._ This fandom, however, is one that I've hardly even _referenced _before. Well, no point in being mysterious, here, you probably already know- yeah, it's _Neon Genesis Evangelion._ I've been addicted to this show lately, especially its top-notch cast of characters, and couldn't help but include it as part of this mini-series. (Always helped, of course, by the fact that a chapter from the original _Live A Live_ fits this series nice and snug.) However, given my lack of experience writing for this fandom, I'll admit, I'm kind of playing it by ear here. Alright, deep breath, and let's get started. Shinji's story, go!

Disclaimer: Okay, I know that I write some messed-up stuff, but if there's one thing I _didn't _write, it's the script for _Neon Genesis Evangelion_. In fact, to this day, I'm _still _trying to figure out what was going on in those last two episodes. Also, I don't own _Live A Live._

Live Alive

Shinji's Story

The Mysterious Child

"All right, we're done for the day," came a voice through the speakers of the cockpit Shinji sat in. "We're pulling you out."

"About time!" came the rough voice of the pilot of Unit 02, standing across from Shinji's own Unit 01. "I was starting to get cramped in here!"

Shinji sighed as he looked around the large room, currently housing three robots higher than most skyscrapers, designed to combat alien menaces only dreamed of in Lovecraft's deepest nightmares. He, as ever, remained silent, as did the third pilot in the room, the young, pale, blue-haired Rei Ayanami. They simply sat as the LCL, the liquid responsible for coordinating the pilot's movements with those of the robots, drained from the cockpit, and soon enough, the door opened and allowed him egress.

It had been fifteen years since the meteorite that had annihilated half of earth in the event known as "Second Impact" had struck. Humanity was no nearer now to finding out the cause of the monstrous entities known as "Angels" that the meteorite seemed to have brought with it than they were all those years ago. Though the survivors of humanity had formed several organizations dedicated to researching and fighting them, chief among them NERV, the organization Shinji was currently working for, had arisen, they weren't really making any progress. The only thing they'd been able to do was find a way to fight the Angels- the construction of the giant robots known as "Evangelions," or EVA for short. Unfortunately, those robots came with a catch- seemingly only children just into their teens were capable of piloting them. For the moment, Japan had three- himself, Shinji Ikari, a young man dressed in a white shirt and black pants, with short black hair, Rei Ayanami, the enigmatic girl with no immediately known backstory, and Asuka Langley Soryu, the hotheaded pilot from Germany.

One by one, the three of them stepped out of their EVAs' cockpits. Shinji and Asuka turned to face the Major, Misato Katsuragi, who also happened to be their guardian. "Ready to go home, you two?" the tall, blue-haired woman asked.

"Yeah, I'm done here. Let's blow this place," Asuka said, arms behind her head as she looked up at the ceiling.

Seized by a sudden inspiration, Shinji turned to Rei, the girl who was so often alone. "Hey, Rei, want to come over to our place tonight? I'll cook something special for you!"

Rei looked at him without the slightest trace of emotion in her eyes. "I apologize, but I cannot. Commander Ikari demands my presence."

Shinji felt his heart sink. One more thing about NERV: the commander was his father, Gendo Ikari, which would probably be more notable if the two had more contact with each other than any foot soldier had with his commanding officer. "Alright," Shinji sighed, resigned. "See you tomorrow, then, I guess."

"I guess," Rei nodded, mimicking his words back to him.

"Don't know why you wanted Wonder Girl to come over anyways," Asuka said scathingly. "I could prop up a blue-haired barbie doll, and we'd have the same effect!"

Shinji said nothing, which ironically seemed to only make Asuka even more frustrated. "Come on, don't you ever disagree with _anything_? Come on, aren't you going to defend her?"

Shinji shrugged as they returned to following Misato out. "What do you want for dinner tonight, Asuka?"

Asuka sighed. "Curry," she muttered.

XXXX

It was on the way home that Misato dropped the news on them. "So," she said thoughtfully as they made their way through Tokyo-3's traffic, "did you two know that we're getting a new pilot tomorrow?"

"WHAAAAAT?!" came the predictable cry from Asuka, who looked at other pilots merely as competition to be the best. "Why? Are they not satisfied with our work?!"

"Nothing like that," Misato shrugged- she had been living with Asuka too long for the outburst to throw her off. "It's just that all the Angels seem to be targeting Japan lately, so we're getting another pilot soon."

"What are they like?" Shinji asked quietly.

"I don't know," Misato shrugged. "I've never met her- I only found out that she was being sent over today. Apparently, she's a girl around your age named..." she thought for a moment, "... Karasu."

"She's from Japan?" Asuka asked.

"She is," Misato nodded.

"Then why was she never sent in before?"

"Well, the truth is, she's a back-up pilot," Misato explained. "The original pilot that was going to come in was named..." Another moment of thought... "Terry, I believe. Nice girl, she's actually been around NERV a few times. But she was... well, bluntly, she was killed in an accident a week or so ago, so they're sending Karasu in instead."

"That's terrible!" Shinji gasped.

"Who cares?" Asuka shrugged. "It just means I've got one new person to outperform!"

XXXX

As it turned out, however, the two of them didn't have to wait until the next day to meet the mysterious Karasu- they met her that very night, beginning with a ringing at the doorbell. Shinji and Asuka, at Misato's urging, grudgingly answered the door together. On the other side was a young woman, fourteen or fifteen at the most, dressed entirely in blue. Her hair was a similar shade of the color, cut to just above her shoulders, and she wore a kind smile as she stood there.

"Who're you?" Asuka asked roughly, looking thoroughly unimpressed.

"Good evening," the girl said, giving a slight bow. "My name is Karasu. Is this the apartment of Shinji Ikari and Asuka Langley?"

"You've found the right place," Asuka said grudgingly. Suddenly, something seemed to click into place. "Wait, _you're _Karasu?"

"That's what they call me," Karasu nodded, giving a slight shrug. "And you are?"

"I'm Asuka Langley Soryu!"

"_You're _Asuka?" Karasu gasped. "Oh- I- I didn't realize I'd be meeting the legend in the flesh so soon!"

"L-legend?" Shinji and Asuka both asked, sounding taken aback.

"Of course- the greatest pilot in the world, born and raised in Germany, graduated college at 12- _twelve! _And then you came over here to help us out when we needed it- you're the one that _dove into a volcano!_"

"Well..." Asuka said, giving an uncharacteristic blush and looking uncharacteristically off-put, "it... it sound a lot cooler when you say it like that..."

"And you!" Karasu continued, turning on Shinji, who took an involuntary step back. "You're the one who pilots Unit 01, right? You took out that one angel without even trying, didn't you?"

Shinji looked more off-put at that moment than Asuka ever had. "That... that was a fluke..."

"Fluke, nothing!" Karasu said, grinning brightly. "Anyone who can do that has a right to be high and mighty! You're second in the world, only to Asuka!"

Asuka smiled. "You know, you might not be that bad after all," she said, crossing her arms.

"I certainly hope to be a help to the Angel-fighting cause," Karasu nodded, giving another quick bow. "But... for the moment, do you mind if I come-"

"K- Karasu!" came a shout nearby. All three of the children at the threshold turned to see another boy approaching, a young man with dirty brown hair, sprinting as hard as he could. "I finally found you!"

"What the- who are _you_, now?" Asuka asked, eyes falling on the new arrival.

"I'm Gage!" the boy said, putting a hand to his chest. "Don't trust her, you two! I finally found you, and now you're going to pay!"

"Pay?" Karasu asked, blinking. "Pay for what?"

"You know!" Gage raged. "Give me back Terry! Why, why did she have to die?! Give her back, you witch!"

A momentary look passed over Karasu's face- Shinji may have imagined it, but he thought he saw a truly nasty look appear there, furious and wickedly gleeful at the same time. However, it was gone so quickly he couldn't be sure he'd really seen it. In a moment, Karasu's face had been reworked into a look of quiet incredulity. "I tried to tell you, Gage, it wasn't my fault."

"Of course it was!" Gage continued shouting. "She's dead, and now you get to pilot her EVA?! Of course you did it! Give her back!"

"Why don't you step in," Shinji said meekly, allowing Karasu entry, which she gladly accepted. With that, he led her further into the apartment, leaving Asuka to deal with the boy at the door.

"What was that all about?" he asked of Karasu when they'd entered.

"He thinks I had something to do with Terry's accident," Karasu said, eyes downcast. "She was my friend, you see, and I was there when they were running the tests, and... her... you know..." A tear seemed to form in the corner of Karasu's eye. "He's blamed me for her death ever since."

Shinji looked down as well. The truth was, he had been privy to plenty of hate for his own EVA piloting before- one of his best friends had started out as something of a rival, punching him out for supposedly hospitalizing his sister. Said boy's sister had been injured in a battle between him and an Angel, despite Shinji's best efforts to stop it, but it had taken some introspection before said boy forgave him for the incident.

"Have you met the third pilot, Rei?" Shinji asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Not Rei," Karasu said, seeming to speak more reflexively than anything else.

"Huh?" Shinji asked, confused.

"My name's not Rei," Karasu repeated.

Shinji stared for a second, then shook his head. "I- I wasn't calling _you_ Rei, I was asking you if you _met_ Rei."

"Oh," Karasu said, her ears turning red. "N-no, I haven't met up with her yet. I hope you'll introduce her to me tomorrow."

Shinji stared. It may have been his imagination, once more, but a look of fury seemed to have crossed Karasu's face once more when she thought he'd called her Rei. So far, he'd seen two faces from the girl- calm and cheerful, and blindingly furious. Which, he wondered, was the girl's true face?

XXXX

The next day, the pilots gathered at NERV for more training with their EVAs. Asuka took the lead in introducing the newest pilot to the oldest. "Hey, Wondergirl, get over here!"

"Do you really have to call her that all the time?" Shinji asked.

"Don't get on my case, Shinji, I'll call her whatever I want!"

"But... but you told me to start standing up for myself yesterday..."

"Yeah, but not to me!"

Shinji quietly shook his head. "Sorry," he muttered.

"What was that? Did you just apologize _again?! _Have some backbone, will you?!"

Thankfully, this conversation ceased when Rei finally arrived. The enigmatic blue-haired girl's eyes fell upon the newest pilot. For a moment, Shinji thought he saw surprise blinking through her eyes, but, as ever with Rei, the emotions she'd shone fleeted away almost as soon as they appeared. "Rei Ayanami," she said, extending her hand.

"Karasu," Karasu said, taking it. "Just Karasu."

Rei seemed to twitch involuntarily as she shook Karasu's hand. Finally, Misato came out. "Alright, kids, let's see what you've got today."

Shinji felt that his performance that day was pretty average. Rei, as always, was top-notch, and Asuka blew out everyone's eardrums bragging about how she was the best. Karasu, to Shinji's relief, didn't challenge the red-haired German on this, preferring instead to quietly work the controls of her EVA. Eventually, the day came to a close, and everyone piled out.

"How'd I do?" Asuka asked urgently of Misato.

"Remarkably well," Misato said, smiling. "You've got the best marks today."

"Of course I do," Asuka grinned. "What part of 'child prodigy' don't you people get?"

"You're an inspiration to us all," Karasu said with a hint of amusement in her eyes. "Hey, Asuka, what say we celebrate? I've got a great place just a short walk away from here- want to see?"

"Sounds good!" Asuka said cheerfully- her attitude towards Karasu had certainly changed since the previous night. "Shinji, want to come?"

"No, I'll... I'll pass," Shinji said meekly.

"Meh, your loss," Asuka shrugged.

"Alright, do you mind, Ms. Katsuragi?" Karasu asked, turning to Misato.

"It's fine by me," Misato said, brushing her hair aside.

"Great!" Karasu said. "First, I... do you mind if I talk to Ms. Ayanami first?"

Asuka gave her new friend her permission, and Karasu beckoned Rei off to the side, where the two made quite a show of having a quiet conversation. As Shinji watched, Karasu began a quiet conversation with the First Child- the first ever EVA pilot. As she listened, Rei's face actually changed expression multiple times, first seeming confused. She responded to whatever Karasu had just said, and, judging from her sudden look of distaste, didn't like the answer she received at all. Finally, she reworked her face into a look of passiveness, nodded, said, "I understand," and turned back towards Shinji.

"Just something to think about!" Karasu called after her, before turning her attention to Asuka.

At this point, it finally dawned on Shinji that there wasn't any pressing need for him to stay anymore, so he turned to Misato. "I guess I'm ready to go now," he said quietly. Misato nodded and began to lead him away.

"May I come with you?" came a quiet voice, and Shinji spun around to see Rei approaching, expressionless as ever.

"Y-you want to come?" Shinji asked, surprised. Rei gave a soft but earnest nod. "Well, I won't object..."

XXXX

Rei stayed silent the whole trip home, only speaking as they entered the apartment. Misato looked in the fridge and quietly cursed. "Out," she muttered. "And tonight, of all nights... I've got to run to the store, you two. Will you be okay?"

"Fine," Shinji nodded.

However, the moment Misato had left, Rei turned on Shinji. "Ikari," she said, "I have things to tell you. Important things."

"Alright," Shinji shrugged, getting ready to prepare some tea. "What is it?"

"They are things about Commander Ikari, and about this new pilot- Karasu. In addition, they are things about myself."

Shinji turned to stare at the girl. He'd never heard her talk about his father before, and he certainly couldn't think of an occasion where Rei had been forthcoming about herself. "Wh-what is it?"

"To begin with, Karasu," Rei said, sitting at the table across from him. "I do not believe her to be an ordinary girl."

"Yeah, I kind of expected that- I mean, if she was, she wouldn't have been chosen to be a pilot." Shinji was surprised with himself. He hadn't intended to sound so... scathing.

"I do not mean that," Rei shook her head. "There is something more to Karasu than meets the eye. She knows more than she should- she already knows the things I am about to tell you, things that have remained top secret, known only to those in the highest ranks of NERV."

"What kind of things?" Shinji asked, attention seized.

"It is difficult... to know where to begin," Rei admitted. "I suppose the best place to start would be..." Rei spent a long moment, staring at her fingertips. Finally, she looked up and spoke. "Have you ever heard of an organization known as SEELE?"

XXXX

For the next hour or so, Shinji listened with rapt, horrified attention as Rei came clean with everything. Indeed, everything, starting with the truth behind Second Impact, and working her way to her own past, and working her way through just about everything that Shinji didn't want to hear. As he listened, the horror within him only grew and grew. He could already tell that he would never be able to look at his EVA the same way again, and with every word Rei spoke, he added another thing to his still-growing list of things to never see the same way again.*

As Rei's narrative finally drew to a conclusion, he stammered out, "But... but why? Why are you telling _me _all this?"

"I was instructed to," Rei noted. "By one Karasu."

"Karasu?" Shinji asked- he'd almost forgotten about how they'd gotten onto these unpleasant subjects in the first place. "What- what does she have to do with anything?"

"I do not know," Rei said, shaking her head. "I had never heard of her prior to one week ago, and as far as I know, there is nobody that is aware of her presence in Japan prior to a month or two ago. I do not know where she comes from, or where she learned all that she seems to know, or why she wished me to divulge it to you."

"What- what could she have done to make you tell me this? I thought you promised father that you wouldn't- what would make you go back on it?"

"She threatened you," Rei said simply.

"W-what?" Shinji asked, taken aback.

"She threatened that, if I remained silent about these events, and my own part in them, she would visit disastrous consequences upon you," Rei said simply. "I do not pretend to know why, but I found the concept... most uninviting. I do not wish to cause you any more pain."

Shinji stared at Rei for a moment. Multiple thoughts were forming in his head, but above them all was a single memory that suddenly seemed so much more important:

"_Hey, Asuka, what say we celebrate? I've got a great place just a short walk away from here- want to see?"_

"Asuka!" he gasped. He rushed for the phone, and quickly dialed the number to Asuka's cell phone. His heart beat rapidly as the dial tone went off. Once, twice, thrice...

Finally, someone picked up. "Asuka!" he cried. "Get back, Kasaru's not safe, she's-"

"Oh, hey, Shinji!" said the voice at the other end of the phone. Shinji's heart plummeted- it was Kasaru herself- or was it? The voice sounded like hers, but there was an oily quality to it he didn't remember being there before. "Hey, how's it going? Look, maybe you should hurry over here- Asuka and I were partying so hard that she passed out- I'm worried for her."

"W-where are you?"

"Oh, I'm at NERV, right next to the EVAs. You should hurry- she's not looking good."

With this, the phone went dead. Shinji dropped it and spun on Rei. "Rei, come on, we have to go, Asuka's in danger!"

"You want me to come?" Rei asked, a note of surprise in her voice. "Even after-"

"You came clean with it all, I trust you," Shinji interrupted. He was almost surprising himself- since when was he this proactive? "Come on, we have to hurry, Asuka needs our help!"

Slowly, Rei nodded, and the two rushed out into the night, not even waiting for Misato to return.

XXXX

Shinji and Rei sprinted up through NERV, rushing to the EVA hangar. Finally, they arrived to see the silhouette of a young woman standing over a limp form on the ground. As they came closer, it became obvious that the forms were Karasu and Asuka, respectively.

"About time you got here," Karasu said, turning to look at them with an unpleasant smile on her face. "I was starting to worry for poor little Asuka."

"What did you do to her?" Shinji asked, finding himself driven by rage. All his timidity had gone out the window with the threat to Asuka.

"Oh, nothing in particular," Karasu shrugged. "I just opened her mind a little- though, given what's happened, I'd say I might have opened her mind a little too much. What do you think?"

"Why- why did you do this?" Shinji asked, so furious that tears were starting to appear in his eyes. "What did she ever do to you?!"

"Her?" Karasu asked, eyebrows raising as she glanced at Asuka. "Oh, nothing in particular."

"Then why?!"

"The same reason I killed Terry, of course- I wanted to meet you."

"You- you _did _kill Terry?!"

"Of course," Karasu smiled, shrugging. "She was worth less than nothing anyways, only getting in my way. All I wanted to do was to meet you, and she was standing in my way."

"How could you?" came a different voice, and Shinji turned with a jump to see Rei approaching Karasu, looking the angriest he'd ever seen her. "Is human life of no value to you?"

"It is not," Karasu shook her head. "Human beings are just scum clinging to this planet, why should I care about them at all? That's why I had you tell Shinji your little story- I was hoping he'd see that, too."

"I don't believe you," Shinji growled, shaking his head. "You... you killed Terry, and did..._ this_ to Asuka, and you just wanted me to twist around to your point of view?"

"What, you think humans deserve the life this world has given them?" Karasu shook her head. "Even after knowing all that's been going on, right here in NERV itself? After knowing what your father has done? Even after knowing what's _really _responsible for making those EVAs move? To believe that, you'd have to be a total-"

"I do," Shinji interrupted, not missing a beat.

"What?" Kasaru asked, looking taken aback.

"I don't care what they've done, I know it was wrong, but not everyone's like that!" Shinji shouted. "Asuka wasn't, and there are plenty of others- Misato, Kaji, Touji, Kensuke, Rei!"

"My name's _not _Rei," Kasaru repeated agitatedly.

"He was referring to me," Rei said, grimacing.

"Ah," Kasaru shrugged off. "Well, you can hardly call her a human, now, can you?"

"Rei's as human as anyone else- and much more than you," Shinji glared at the girl in blue.

"Is that so?" Kasaru asked, the rage appearing in her eyes. "In that case... yes, let me show you... what your precious humanity is worth. Let me show you..."

As she spoke, she slowly backed up, until she was next to her EVA. Abruptly, she leapt in- Shinji and Rei both leapt forward to stop her, but before they could arrive, the cockpit had sealed itself, and, despite no one being around to activate the EVA, it was moving. Shinji stared at what he was seeing- it was as though the entire thing was covered with some dark energy, forcing it to move. As both he and Rei watched in horror, it broke free of its constraints, and began to tear up the rest of the hangar.

"Kids, what's going- oh, my God!" came a sudden scream to their side. They spun to see Misato approaching, eyes fixed on the moving Evangelion. "What- what's going on?"

"No time to explain!" Shinji said quickly. "Misato, you need to get Rei and me into our EVAs and activate them, hurry!"

Misato still looked extremely confused, but nodded. "And... what about Asuka?"

Shinji's heart froze- he'd forgotten about the German girl. "The medical unit- right away!" he said, rushing over to his trusted Unit 01.

A few moments later, the massive robot rocketed through NERV's base, alongside Rei's Unit 00, arriving at the surface of Tokyo-3. It didn't take long for them to locate Kasaru in her unit, tearing through the city like it was made of cardboard. Quickly, they moved forward, rushing as fast as they could. It would be just like fighting an Angel- if you took away the fact that Angels weren't piloted by deranged misanthropists.

As they approached, Kasaru's unit turned, not even speaking to them as it began to attack. Shinji and Rei united in dodging out of the way of its wild gunfire, as well as its swings, both of fists and of its knife. They both utilized their own Units' knives, driving them repeatedly into their rival mech, striking and dodging and striking and dodging, until the almost inevitable outcome occurred- Kasaru had had only a few days of practice in the robots, where Shinji and Rei had been practicing for almost a full year. Slowly, the massive mech began to collapse as its systems failed. For a moment, Shinji thought he heard a loud scream as it came crashing to the ground, where the scream was swiftly silenced.

XXXX

Asuka awoke late the next day to find Shinji at the foot of her bed. His eyes teared up as he saw her. "Asuka!" he said. "You're awake!"

He eagerly awaited her comment to the effect of, "Of course I am, idiot, did you really think something like that would even slow me down?!" But... it never came. Asuka merely turned her head slightly towards him, and quietly asked, "Kasaru... where's Kasaru?"

"Dead," Shinji confessed heavily. "Died when her Unit collapsed."

Asuka quietly shook her head. "And here... I thought she was alright."

"What did she do?"

"I... I don't even know. She... she put her hands on my head, and suddenly I was thinking things... terrible thoughts... It didn't... I don't want to remember..."

Shinji stood and put a hand on her arm. "It's alright, you're safe now. She's gone."

Asuka turned to him, and was on the point of responding when the door to the medical unit opened and Misato stepped in. Her eyes were downcast as she spoke. "Shinji... your father wants to see you."

"He does, huh?" Shinji had half-expected this, to be honest.

"Why?" Asuka asked groggily.

"He... broke a few rules, saving you," Misato confessed. "Hijacking an Evangelion, using it to destroy another one for personal reasons... he wants to talk to you."

"Well, that's alright," Shinji nodded, standing, feeling strength course through him as he remembered everything Rei had told him. A fury almost at the level of what he'd felt towards Karasu was pumping through his veins. He knew what was happening now, and he refused to take it sitting down. Looking around, he saw the looks of surprise on Asuka and Misato's faces. "I've got some words for him, too."

_XXXX_

*Sorry for glossing over quite a bit here, but _Evangelion _is one of those 'built-on-spoilers' shows, so I didn't want to give too much away for anyone who hasn't seen the whole series yet. Hopefully, that doesn't break up the flow of the chapter _too _much.

Well, I feel pretty good (Ocelot gesture) about this chapter- at least, I feel that, for a first attempt at an Evangelion fanfic, it could've gone much, much poorer. Anyways, thus ends another chapter of the _Live Alive _miniseries! See you next time! In the meantime, please R&amp;R, constructive criticism embraced (always trying to make my stories the best they can be, after all,) flames not so much, Gamer4 out!


End file.
